Gaston Bachelard (June 27, 1884 - October 16, 1962) was a French philosopher who rose to some of the most prestigious positions in the French academy. His most important work is on poetics and on the philosophy of science. To the latter he introduced the concepts of epistemological obstacle and epistemological break (obstacle epistemologique et rupture epistemologique). He influenced many subsequent French philosophers, among them Michel Foucault and Louis Althusser